Here’s How to Get Pikachu as a Starter in POKÉMON GO

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At the start of Pokémon Go, players are presented with option of choosing one of the three classic starter Pokémon from Pokémon Red and Blue: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Sadly (unless you’re into one of those three, which would make sense because they’re all awesome), it doesn’t appear that Pikachu, the face of the franchise, is available to select as your first Pokémon.

Thankfully, Polygon did some research and it turns out that with a bit of knowhow and patience, Pikachu can in fact be your first partner in your Pokémon Go journey, and you can play the game in true Pokémon Yellow style.

When you start playing, Professor Willow prompts you to choose one of the three presented starters, who all pop up on the in-game map. If you don’t initiate battle with any of them, though, and walk away from the area, they should all disappear and then respawn to wherever you moved to. If you do this four times, the next time the starters pop up again, they should have Pikachu with them.

Bear in mind that this method might take some time to work for you: It took the Polygon team 40 minutes until it happened for them, and personally, it took my brother longer than that to get a Pikachu of his own.

If the above description doesn’t quite paint the picture of how to achieve this for you, check out the video below: a walkthrough on exactly how to get a Pikachu (via Game Informer) and let us know if you were able to pull it off yourself.